Geraldton’s St John of God Hospital reports its maternity unit has bounced back six months after reopening

Geraldton’s St John of God Hospital says its maternity unit has bounced back after a five-month shutdown, with almost 100 babies born at the hospital since it reopened. The hospital’s maternity ward was closed in November 2021 because of a shortage of midwives and staff, forcing women to either go to Geraldton Health Campus or a Perth hospital. The ward reopened in April this year. Since then, the hospital has provided more than 170 women and families with maternity care and delivered 96 babies, showing a promising return to form. CEO Phillip Balmer said the response from patients and families since reopening had been encouraging. “This feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and our unit has recently been recognised as having the most improved patient experience across St John of God Health Care,” he said. “We are pleased that we have been able to offer this thanks to having a stable and growing workforce.” Midwife manager Trish Glynn played a major role in the recruitment drive which allowed the maternity unit to reopen, and said it has been extremely rewarding to see the unit bouncing back. “It’s pretty amazing, everyone’s very happy about it,” she said. “Midwives are happy because they are back to doing what they do best, which is taking care of babies and their families.” Eight midwives and three midwifery students have been recruited since the unit reopened. Ms Glynn said the ward continued to train and develop new skills such as foetal monitoring, and she was confident prospects for the unit’s future were positive.